President Donald Trump has embarked on his first international trip since taking office, a five-country journey to meet with some of the most important figures in the Middle East and Europe.
This first foreign trip starts as home troubles mount. Until Trump manages to get ahead of the Russian investigation, his economic agenda will likely remain frozen, or at least with less support than before.
This week offers US Durable Goods Orders and the 2nd estimate for US Q1 17 GDP. Growth is expected to tick higher, maybe inching till the 1% mark.
The FOMC minutes regarding this month meeting will be released and the message is likely to be in line with the meeting statement. The Fed is moving towards removing accommodative monetary policy in the months ahead.
In euro area space, PMIs will be released and are expected to slow.
Japan will release several economic figures, such as CPI and trade balance. CPI is expected to improve, though as Kuroda mentioned before, that surge might be sparked by rising oil prices. And maybe momentum still isn’t strong enough.
The Bank of Canada gathers this week. Interest rates are expected to remain at current low levels, at 0.50%. Retail sales and CPI figures took off some of the bright spot seen across several economic figures reported in the Q1 17. The recent rating downgrade of several Canadian big banks reinforces what the BoC stated before, that household debt is an issue.
OPEC members will gather on May 25. They are expected to extend the 6-month output cut. And if the mood among present members allows it, maybe they will offer deeper cuts.